ROYAL OAK — Four more businesses and six more breweries are joining the second-annual Michigan Craft Beer Stroll on tap for noon to 5 p.m. Oct. 6.

A trolley will be used this year to get fans of the limited production beers to the 21 participating venues.

“We want to make it easier for guests to get to Emagine at the north end, Oxford Inn at the south end and all the points in between,” said Stephanie McIntyre, who is managing the downtown event.

Emagine Theater has Star Lanes Sports Bar and Restaurant, which will offer fried pickle spears and Bell’s Brewery Two-Hearted Ale, while Oxford Inn will have a nacho bar to go with Sanders chocolate stout made by the Detroit Beer Company.

Advertisement

The thirst for diverse, quality beer has aspiring brewers seeing the craft glass as half full. The United States now has 2,126 breweries — an increase of 350 since June 2011 — and 97 percent are craft brewers, according to the Brewers Association.

Craft brewers have a reputation for making fuller-flavored beers with innovative ingredients, which is filling a niche for Americans’ changing tastes.

Town Tavern, 116 W. Fourth St., is getting in on the action as a new stop for Royal Oak’s ode to ale.

“We just had a draft beer system installed in July and this will be a good way to introduce it,” Manager Margo Ladd said.

Town Tavern will feature Lighthouse Amber from the Cheboygan Brewing Company, which also signed on for the first time. Strollers who stop at the upscale 1930’s tavern will get venison chili to eat.

“Lighthouse Amber is a good food beer. It’s very light and easy to drink,” Ladd said.

The Michigan Craft Beer Stroll is being put on by the Royal Oak Restaurant Association to promote the variety of beer made in the state and signature dishes at the city’s bars and restaurants.

RORA supports local charities with its beer and wine strolls. The Boys & Girls Club of South Oakland will get the proceeds this time. Tickets are $40 in advance.

The Arbor Brewing Company, Livery, Original Gravity Brewing Company, Rochester Mills Beer Company and Saugatuck Brewing Company are new to the lineup along with Lebanese restaurant Gemmayze and Fifth Avenue and Gusoline Alley bars.

“Guests will get an even greater sampling of what downtown Royal Oak has to offer,” RORA President Carrie O’Neill said.

Gemmayze will serve Ara-yes halabi and vegetarian grape leaves with Atwater Brewery’s Grand Circus IPA. The acronym stands for India pale ale although the country isn’t the origin of the complex kind of beer.

Fifth Avenue is pairing Bubba Gump shrimp with Kuhnhenn Brewing Company’s Double Rice IPA, which won a gold medal at the World Beer Expo in May.

McIntyre said several restaurant managers wanted to offer something from the Saugatuck Brewing Company. Its Singapore IPA can be sampled at Oak City Grille along with pulled pork sliders and chips.

At Bastone, Brewmaster Rockne Van Meter has crafted a seasonal, German-style Weizenbock for beer strollers to try with beef sliders on pretzel buns. He has won numerous national and international awards, including a first-place finish for this brew in the bock category of the world expo.

Advance tickets are available at the participating locations or online at netpix.com/events/3916/. Quantities are limited. If any tickets are left, they will be sold for $50 on the day of the event at the three check-in tents that will be set up at Main and Third streets, Main and Sixth or Washington Avenue and Fifth Street.

Participants are required to bring a valid ID and start at one of the event check-in tent to get their lanyards and wristbands.